The Story of Mario Andretti: A Refugee from Communism to the Heights of Auto Racing

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Check out what the 2023 Ram 1500 has to offer by visiting ram.com today. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. If you're an auto racing fan, and even if you're not, Mario Andretti is a name you know, and for good reason. Aside from his dashing good looks and charisma, he was one of the most successful drivers in motorsports history. Only one of three drivers to have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, and the world's sports car championship, Andretti remains the only driver who have won the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship. Even more remarkably, he's the only person to be named United States Driver of the Year in three decades.

But it is his story and his unlikely rise in a sport generally accessible only to the rich and the privileged that is most remarkable of all. Here is Mario Andretti to tell his story. Italy lost territory. That's the territory they lost. Yugoslavia occupied the region under hardline communism under Marshall Tito, and there was a choice for all of the inhabitants of the area to succumb to communism or to maintain the Italian citizenship. leave home and become refugees basically back in mainland Italy. And my family chose, you know, the latter part to maintain the Italian citizenship. And we were refugees in the city of Lucca in Tuscany for seven and a half years before my dad had the opportunity to come to America. We had relatives on my mother's side living in America here, in fact, in Nazareth, where I live now. And it was suggested that, why don't you come here? We would guarantee that you have a home, you know, and that's what they had to do in order to obtain visas.

There's nothing normal about what happened to us, obviously. But credit to my father. First of all, the dad was administrator of land holdings from the family on his mother's side because he lost his parents at age two and four respectively. And he was raised by a priest, the uncle priest, but the family on that side owned 2,000 acres of land, about 2,100 acres, and seven tenants. And my dad was the administrator of those holdings. Then basically, he was a farmer. So he had no other skills when he moved on.

And that was a difficult part, obviously, to be able to obtain a professional job of some kind. And while we were in the camp, conditions were very, very basic. But my dad always provided for us. We were always dressed properly and went to school and never cold and never hungry. You know, he always took care of the family. He was a very proud man. And that's something that I've always looked up to him because of, of that he had maintained that responsibility in the best possible way. And he never quit.

Mario, it sounds like he never quit on you, his family, despite the toughest circumstances. So you're living in Italy, and you you see an auto race, and there's one particular man that that moves you to think about or at least dream about automobiles and car racing. Who is that man? What was that race in Italy? Well, the race was the Italian Grand Prix in 1954. And the man was my idol, it became my idol was Alberto Ascari, who was at the time current world champion for Ferrari.

And as you can imagine, there's an Italian driving Ferrari and, and being so strong. You know, I was very impressed by that and taken in all the way. And as an idol, he, he just actually helped shape my future, to be honest with you, my own mind. Because between my twin brother, Aldo, myself, from their own, we did not have a plan B, I always say that.

And that's a fact. You know, this is something that we wanted to pursue, no matter what, had no idea how or when, you know, things were going to happen because it was, you know, a lot of uncertainties in our lives. And even as kids, you could obviously understand that. But, but the dream never faded, you know, the dream stayed strong. And at first opportunity, you know, we pursued it, you know, when we came to the States, two years later, Aldo and I started building a car to race locally. First of all, the the car that we built was a 1948 Hudson Hornet, which was actually, Brandon was very successful in NASCAR racing.

And there was not popular, that car here at this local level. But, but we chose that, you know, with the help of some other, you know, a couple other friends, which you always have the scientist somewhere that does it thinking. And we followed that advice and, and we built that car and but we didn't dare tell my dad. And you've been listening to Mario Andretti share his story and his father's story. And after World War Two, the part of Italy he lived in the part where his father administered to 2100 acres was seized by Yugoslavia. And Marshall Tito offered up two options for the Italians living in that part of what used to be Italy, join the communists and renounce your Italian roots, or become a refugee. And Mario Andretti's father chose the latter. But it was that Italian Grand Prix race in 1954 that planted the seeds in Mario and his twin brother Aldo's mind.

And when they would come to America, well, as they say the rest is history. When we come back more of Mario Andretti's story here on Our American Stories. Lee Habib here, the host of Our American Stories. Every day on this show, we're bringing inspiring stories from across this great country, stories from our big cities and small towns. But we truly can't do the show without you. Our stories are free to listen to, but they're not free to make. If you love what you hear, go to our American stories.com and click the donate button.

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Circle is the place where crypto meets stability, where local businesses meet global customers, and the US dollar meets USDC. Visit circle.com slash podcast. You wouldn't settle for watching a blurry TV, would you? So why settle for just okay TV sound? Upgrade your streaming and sound all in one with Roku stream bar. This powerful two in one upgrade for any TV lets you stream your favorite entertainment in brilliant 4k HDR picture and hear every detail with auto speech clarity.

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Let's pick up where Mario last left off. Mario Andretti We didn't dare tell my dad because there were so many things here. You know, he knew that we were following motor racing and we were all in.

And this kid, however, okay, all right, the kids are impressed by something. And then Alberto Escari is killed in the following year, 1955, on a way over on a ship called the Bianca Mano during the time that 24 Hours of Le Mans was running. That's the time when Mercedes went into the crowd and killed 85 people. So, so many negatives about the sport, always, you know, just fatalities here and there. Well, you know, my dad was certainly not a race fan of any kind. He never pursued, but the only news that he was ever, you know, that was ever coming his way was negative. So for us kids, you know, to even when we would hint about racing, he says, Oh, these kids are crazy.

Don't even think about it type of thing. So he certainly did not in any way understand how strong we believed in it and how strong, you know, the passion that we already had developed. So anyway, we started building this car and didn't dare tell him, you know, anything about it. This was in 1957, two years after we arrived here in 1959. We figure it will take us four years to build this car, you know, to get all the money together and everything, because you had to be 21 to race legally in those days, to race professionally. And so we figured we got time, but the car was finished two years later in 1959. We were only 19. We figured, you know what, we're not going to look at this car for two years before we race it.

So we had, we fudged the birth date on the licenses and keep saying, you know, which is a fact in those days, obviously there was no computer. So we started racing at age 19 without my dad knowing. And the only defense that we had on that or the buffer that we had there was the language barrier, you know, because my dad obviously did not learn the language as quickly as we did. So, because we were winning races at work, you know, his boss used to, you know, try to tell him, oh, your kids are really doing well. He didn't understand.

He thought that the boss was telling him how good he was at his job. So again, it wasn't until the end of the season, at the very last race, an invitational race, that Aldo, you know, was almost killed in that race. He had a bad accident, which, you know, we had a, actually a fracture skull and all that. So he was in a coma for, you know, for a long time. And he was even given his last rights at that time.

And my dad didn't even know it, but that's how he found out. He almost felt vindicated, you know, see, I told you guys, you know, that type of thing. When Aldo finally came around weeks later, he, you know, took him a while after he opened his eyes and so forth, you know, took him a while to actually speak. The first sentence that he said, he says to me, he says, I'm sure, I'm sure glad you had to be the one to face the old man.

Okay. All right, we got them back. Who were key people in your life, Mario, who allowed you to think you could do what you did, your team? There were several people that believed could see the burning passion that I had. And, you know, after this stock, I didn't want to make a career out of, you know, local stock cars, I wanted to get into single-seaters.

And one of the first ones that actually helped was my, now my wife, my wife's father and his partner. They, you know, I needed to buy a midget, a midget car, a single-seater to run, a three-quarter midget, to run indoor races in the winter. And that's where a lot of the owners would scout drivers, you know, for the full-size midgets for the regular season. And I was, I bought a famous car and I made a deal with Earl Hoke, who was, you know, my, Hoke is my wife's maiden name, and they invested in that car. And that's what got me going, was another plateau, a launching pad, if you will, because I won some races, I was competitive, and I got noticed, and I got a really good ride with the Matejka brothers in midget, which were running the ARDC club, American Race Drivers Club, which was a very prominent midget series with all the icons of midget racing, you know, like Len Duncan's, Tony Bonadillo, some of the icons of midget racing is of the era. And that, you know, then I started winning there. And this is a team that had never won any races, but I started winning for them. And then the team out of Indianapolis, the Rufus Gray team, the Rufus Gray individual actually owned a sprint car, and he had a sprint car where he had some of the top names, like Judd Larson, driving for him, and the USEC sprint cars. He took notice, and obviously they all knew that I was interested in progressing. And he gave me a ride, and he became sort of the mentor at the time, which brought me into, I would say, mainstream of IndyCar racing, because even though it was not the top category, sprint cars is a step below the championship cars, but I was driving against the top drivers because they were migrating to sprint cars, like A.J.

Foyt, Roger McCloskey, all the top drivers would be driving this, Parnelli Jones, driving in these sprint cars, and I would be driving against them. And all of a sudden, I started winning there. But it was always, like I said, certain individuals that just made a difference, and I seized the opportunity at the time, and quite honestly, sometimes you get a ride because the main driver is hurt. And that's how it was really happening. A lot of it was happening with me. But once I took over, it seemed like I held my own and earned my way into a solid ride. So again, everything was by chance. There was no guarantees anywhere.

You could have all the plans in the world, but you had no way of trying to predict what was going to happen anywhere. You just had to be there and seize the opportunity, and that's really the way it worked out for me. I want to talk about your wife. How does a guy do this without a strong family? Yeah, I mean, I tell you what, you have no idea the important role that she played in my career and indirectly encouraging me and backing me up because we got married, I got married young, and the career was going. I had kids, and I didn't have a steady job.

I was relying on just what I could earn racing, which can be pretty sketchy sometimes, but it worked, and she worked. And you're listening to Mario Andretti telling the story of his life. And in this part, we learned that his father really didn't approve of what they were doing. He only knew the bad news, the bad stories, but he and his twin brother, Aldo, persisted. They had a dream. They had a vision, and they finished completing the building of their car early by the age of 19. They weren't allowed to compete until they were 21.

That didn't stop them. It was a terrible accident. Aldo almost died. He was in a coma. Last rights were read, and he prevailed, and so did Mario.

And in the end, well, the rest, as I said earlier, is history. Mario to this day is one of only three drivers who have won races in Formula One, IndyCar, and the World Sports Car Championship, and the only driver of one, the Indianapolis 500, the Daytona 500, and the Formula One World Championship. When we come back, more of this remarkable life story, one of the most successful drivers in motorsports history. Mario Andretti's story continues here on Our American Stories. Digital currency is helping to form the base layer for a new global commerce infrastructure, and stablecoins like USDC, issued by Circle, help to bring faster payments at internet scale.

From merchants at the point of sale to corporations that want to pay global suppliers and even employees more efficiently. Visit circle.com slash podcast to learn more. And much more. Roku TV is more than a smart TV. It's a better TV. Learn more today at roku.com.

Happy streaming. Nissan is driving the thrill of its vehicle's innovative design into the spotlight in Thrilling Design, the brand's latest campaign. Nissan dares to design what others won't by approaching each project in a completely different way.

They break molds and start each design with a specific customer in mind and how this vehicle will bring a unique sense of thrill to the road. The campaign illustrates how Nissan drives to build an exhilarating experience into each model from initial concept to the last bolt, with each design inspired by what moves and thrills you. We get a look into where Nissan draws inspiration for its innovative vehicle lineup and unique models to get a closer look at the thrilling details, features, and silhouettes. The Nissan Z, Ariya, and Rogue models take center stage to show everyday adventures Nissan vehicles can inspire with appearances by the rugged Pathfinder and bold Altima SR as well. Nissan is driving the thrill of its vehicle's innovative design into the spotlight in Thrilling Design, the brand's latest campaign.

To learn more about the design and innovation at Nissan, visit www.NissanUSA.com. And we continue with our American stories and Mario Andretti's life story. Let's pick up where we last left off.

Here's Mario. I got married young and the career was going. I had kids and I didn't have a steady job. I was relying on, you know, just what I could earn racing, which, you know, it can be pretty sketchy sometimes. But it worked and she worked, you know, like even to give you an idea, when I was driving, you know, when I was maintaining the three-quarter midget that her dad had financed, she was working and she was pregnant.

And on her way to one of the races, she's just like sobbing a little bit, you know. I said, what's the matter? And she said, I just quit my job. I said, you did what?

She was having a month pregnant. I said, you did what? How dare you? I said, how am I going to pay for the engine? I said, you know, to keep freshening it up. She said, all right, how is that? So, as you can see, she was paying for me freshening up the engines from week to week, you know, at Bob's Motorcycle Shop and things like that. But, you know, we laugh about it, obviously, you know, but she was a rock behind me throughout, you know. And again, you know, she was never a race fan.

She's not a race fan today, but what the heck? I mean, she had no choice, I guess, you know, and she knew that this was our path and even with the kids and she just always made the best of it, you know. But she carried the burden, you know, the family makes sure everything is running smoothly and at the same time supporting me by what I liked, it was the stability that she created because she always very in check with her emotions, you know, and it was never like, you know, ticker tape parade if I brought home a trophy or, you know, like a black stripe on her arm if I didn't, you know, the hug when I came home with trophy or not was always the same.

So, that was really what I needed. The danger aspect, you know, was Lumi was always there because obviously the sport, you know, in the 60s, the 70s, you know, was certainly not as, especially in the 60s, not as safe as it is today. And yes, we lost a lot of friends. I mean, obviously, she made, she was friendly with many of the wives of my buddies and then, you know, my best friend Billy Foster when he was killed and Judd Larson and on and on. I mean, we lost so many, Ronnie Peterson. I mean, she was obviously always the one that thinking, you know, when is he going to come home?

You know, this after this race. So, the spectrum of that was always there and it was real. There was, we were losing way too many, you know, and unfortunately, and then I'm sure that that was always, you know, anxious moments for her as well. Me as a driver, I never dwell on that side, obviously. So, I was pretty serene, but her, I could see that side of her just dealing with this uncertainty, you know, all the time, every week. Had to be, you know, tough moments and I only began to understand, really, what she was going through when I came out of the cockpit officially because, you know, now watching, you know, my kids run and my grandson and so forth, all of a sudden, I have, you know, different anxieties, you know, that I ever experienced by being active myself. Yeah, I think most coaches know this one or most athletes. When they're playing, it's one thing, then they watch their kids play and say, oh, that's what my father was going through. Now I get it. There you go.

Now I get it. You obviously were named driver of the year in three different decades, driver of the quarter century and, of course, driver of the century in January of 2000. And, Mario, you did this across every style of racing that there is. Talk about, if you could, the three most important victories in your life, the ones that meant the most to you and to your family. Well, I mean, to me, probably the victory that stands out the most on a personal level is winning the Italian Grand Prix because that's where I saw my very first, you know, international big group, big time race.

And that's where my dream really began, solidified. And here we go, you know, I win in that place. And then I also clinched a world championship there at Monza, you know, so that has, you know, personally that nothing comes close to that. The others are, obviously, there are many races. Every race has got its own shining star, if you know what I mean. But when you look at the classics, those are the ones that you're judged by, like winning Indianapolis or winning Daytona type of thing, you know, because, again, those are the crown jewels of the different series. So, you know, everybody would focus on that.

I mean, there were others. For me, from a personal level, however, you know, a year ago, I go forth, is winning over my son Michael on Father's Day in Portland in 1986, you know, and beating him by seven one-thousands of a second, you know, that type of thing. I mean, can you imagine? And when I look back and how many times Michael and I started on pole, or how many times we were on podium together while we were even teammates, those are incredible moments in my life, you know, bright moments. When I look back, I said, we could have never designed that, you know, but it did happen. You know, how fortunate are we?

How blessed we are. This becomes a father-son affair. And, you know, as we learn, you can't force Mario, your sons, to do anything.

You know that from personal experience with your own dad. You must have been really heartened when your own sons chose to follow you in this really risky but really exhilarating profession. Oh, indeed, yes, because that was their choosing. You know, it's something that I feel I made abundantly clear that, you know, if you're going to pursue this, don't do it just because you think that I may like you to do it.

If that's really what you want to do, I say, but do it for yourself, for your own satisfaction. And then, you know, when they make their choice, just like what, no bigger satisfaction than having your own kids pursue on a business, you know, something, you know, in your own business, you know, like if you own a business, you know, they pursue and, and they cultivate it and make a career of it themselves. And you've been listening to Mario Andretti share his story, and we learn about the importance of his wife, who he called a rock in his life. And he really didn't understand all of the uncertainty and anxiety she dealt with until as he confessed, he watched his own kids race.

And then everything changed. And he came to appreciate what a constant source of encouragement and constancy she was in his life. He reflects on the biggest victory in his life being the Italian Grand Prix, where the dream commenced when he was a boy and imagine that kind of dream occurring in your life, that the fulfillment of that kind of dream. And then of course, another big race that he recalls is beating his own son Michael by a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of a second in 1986. And so happy that his boys chose to follow in his footsteps, but never through force or coercion.

I guess his boys just watched what they watched, were inspired, and wanted to do what dad did. When we continue more of Mario Andretti's story, his life story, and all American story, if ever we've told one, here on Our American Stories. What is Circle? First of all, it's a beautiful shape. It's consistent, a community. It's meant to be inclusive, a globe. At Circle, we build USDC, a digital dollar that's actually dollar backed one to one. We're building a future where money will travel at the speed of the internet for fractions of a penny and no one will think about it because it will just be the way we work.

Circle is the place where crypto meets stability, where local businesses meet global customers, and the US dollar meets USDC. Visit circle.com slash podcast. Most TVs are smart nowadays, but with busy home screens and remotes with too many or too few buttons, smart shouldn't mean complicated. That's why Roku TV is the smart TV made easy. The customizable home screen puts your inputs, streaming favorites like iHeart and free live TV all in one place. From simple settings anyone can understand, automatic updates with the latest features, and much more, Roku TV is more than a smart TV, it's a better TV. Learn more today at Roku.com.

Happy streaming! Nissan is driving the thrill of its vehicle's innovative design into the spotlight in Thrilling Design, the brand's latest campaign. Nissan dares to design what others won't by approaching each project in a completely different way.

They break molds and start each design with a specific customer in mind and how this vehicle will bring a unique sense of thrill to the road. The campaign illustrates how Nissan drives to build an exhilarating experience into each model from initial concept to the last bolt, with each design inspired by what moves and thrills you. We get a look into where Nissan draws inspiration for its innovative vehicle lineup and unique models to get a closer look at the thrilling details, features, and silhouettes. The Nissan Z, Ariya, and Rogue models take center stage to show everyday adventures Nissan vehicles can inspire with appearances by the rugged Pathfinder and bold Altima SR as well. Nissan is driving the thrill of its vehicle's innovative design into the spotlight in Thrilling Design, the brand's latest campaign. To learn more about the design and innovation at Nissan, visit www.NissanUSA.com And we continue with our American stories and Mario Andretti and of course there's Andretti racing and there's the business of racing because it's not just Mario, Mr. Hanson, and Mr. Charisma jumping into a car.

There are jobs on the line. There are cars to design, crews to support those cars, sponsors, fans, TV contracts, so much more. And here is Mario to talk about the business of the business of motorsports. And this is a business. I mean, a lot of people don't know the amount of money that goes into the preparation of the car, the amount of people that are employed by the crew, the sponsors. There are a lot of jobs on the line, Mario.

Talk about the business of this business because it's not just like you're some celebrity jumping into a car looking as handsome as you always looked and that's that. I mean, this is work, Mario. Well, I mean, yeah, it's a complex business, no question. I mean, it's a truly a team sport, actually. I mean, as a driver, you have to have a piece of equipment worthy of bringing results. And who can make it that? I mean, then there's got to be a lot of people involved, engineers, mechanics, and so on and so forth.

Again, there's a lot that goes behind it, the strategies that go behind it. I only own a team and drove for myself in one year in 1968. I didn't want to do that because I wanted to move around to different disciplines. I just wanted to drive. But as a driver, however, I always had input in the team. I wasn't just a contracted driver, okay, drive and shut up.

I always was very integrated within the team because I wanted to have a say as to who my engineers was and suggestions, blah, blah, blah, and to have that type of harmony within the team. And that's the part that actually really worked for me very well. And I drove for some of the icons in our sport over the years in different disciplines.

Obviously, this is what gave me the opportunity to bring home some results. You know, it wasn't always uphill for you, too. I mean, there were dry spells.

And by the way, athletes experienced this too, Mario. How did you handle that? How did you cope? I mean, when things just aren't firing, so to speak, on all cylinders, how do you keep it together? How do you keep positive, especially with all the expectations, and actually, probably some people rooting for you to fail? Yeah, no question.

I mean, you've experienced all that. If you're in it for the long pull, believe me, you're going to have the ups and downs. And I mean, when you're down, that's really what tests your willpower and your mindset. All of those elements, they're so important because, again, it's not going to be always a better road. When you're at the top, you know darn well that it's not going to last, and you fight like crazy, you know, to try to maintain the momentum, whatever it is that keeps you there. But when it starts going the other way, you know, you can't dwell on the negative, you got to start keep searching, keep searching, and maintain a positive attitude, you know, to pull out of it. I want to talk to you about class and income that is if you had tried to pursue racing in Europe, as opposed to your coming to America into a place like Nazareth, would a Mario Andretti's career have been less probable in a class system like Europe, than a place like America?

Talk about that. I'm glad you brought that up, actually, because quite honestly, if we would have stayed in Europe, I don't see how in the world I could have ever, you know, especially within the age limit, you know, to take advantage of a career, I could have got started. So I always say that the negative of what happened during the war, the displacement that we experienced as a family and everything was a negative, but it became a huge positive by having the opportunity to come to the United States, because I feel that I'm a true, true example of the American dream. I don't see how anything could have happened to me unless we came to the States, even under the environment that my dad had me under, you know, because of his, you know, this farming, and so I didn't want to do that. I think I had no, you know, even as a youngster, I just despised that type of thing. You know, that's not what, you know, set the fire in me. And, you know, we loved my Uncle Bruno, you know, who was, you know, my mother's brother, you know, who was, you know, he was an aviator in the aviation, he had motorcycles, he had, you know, was that type of a guy, you know, and so there was something that, as I say, if we would have remained there, I probably, I don't know, I probably would have become a plumber or something.

Now, we love asking folks just a few questions, Mario, just personal ones. Your biggest regret, that is the decision you made that you wish you could have pulled back in your life? Well, you know, I'm not sure that I have any regrets, quite honestly. You could always do something better by looking at it now, okay, I might have made a better decision a different time. I'll give you an example, you know, when, at the end of my Formula One career with Lotus, I had a couple of opportunities, one to go either with McLaren or out for a male, and I went with my heart, you know, I went with out for a male because, you know, I had a friend engineer there and so forth, and I thought out for a male was ready to spring, you know, into the top in Formula One, and instead I, and I could have gone with McLaren, I could have probably won another world championship with McLaren.

So, you know, those are some things, you call it a mistake, call it miscalculation. Yeah, you could, you know, now that I have a chance to revisit, but overall, Lee, I have no regrets. I have no regrets whatsoever, you know, the positive way, way overcomes the negatives, and so I, again, no regrets.

That's great. What gives you, Mario, at this stage of your life, your deepest sense of fulfillment? The deepest sense of fulfillment is to be able to, with everything that's going on in my career and the distractions and everything, to have been able to keep the family together throughout. Yeah, and Faith, does that play a role in your life, Mario? I mean, we know you're Catholic, but talk about that part of your life. Faith does, and again, not just the fact that we had a priest in our family, there was clergy, and that was never anything that was really pushed on us. As a matter of fact, my uncle, I love that man more than anyone. He was so, such a modern thinker and everything even then, but there was another chaplain in our camp, Don Enzo Tamburlini, who really, somehow, without forcing things, like instill certain values, you know, that you maintain and keep, and always knowing that you can't do things alone. You know, you need some help. You know, you have to invoke something, believe in something, and I do, and many times I say, you know, I need some help here, please, you know, and somehow it works for you.

It always did, and it always will. And last but not least, Mario, tell us about a hobby, a pastime, a secret passion that the audience might not expect Mario and Dredi to have. Well, hobbies, I mean, that's what we do. I just love recreation, and as you can imagine, I'm fortunate we have a place up in the Poconos here, I have a lake, and I have every toy imaginable, you know, ATVs, I have boats, I have an ultralight, we play tennis, we water ski. I just love all the things that, you know, they're energetic, and you ought to come up there. I'll get you tired really fast. You have a deal, Mario. You know, one thing I think never leaves some men is the thrill of speed and the thrill of competition, and that it doesn't ever leave you as you get older, if that's who you are, and it's baked into your DNA.

Mario, I so appreciate you taking the time, and I will most definitely take you up on the offer. By the way, your first victory was in a place called Teaneck, New Jersey, and that's where I was born. I was born in Holy Name Hospital in Teaneck, New Jersey. Yeah, it was a big victory.

I had a hundred laps there in my three-quarter midget, yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Mario. Mario and Dredi, for the hour. Thank you so much, sir. My pleasure.

You bet. And that was a live interview I conducted with Mario and Dredi some time ago, and though not exactly the format of what we do every day now, we just couldn't help ourselves and play that one forward, because what a story indeed that was. I was beaming the entire time, because this is a hero of mine, and when you get to talk to your own heroes, oh, that's my own dream, talking to guys who had dreams, too, and fulfilled them. And that happens every day in American life. So many of us are living our own versions of the American dream, and it doesn't matter what someone else's is.

All that matters is your own. And by the way, what he said about America is so true. He said, I am the true, true example of the American dream. I don't know how what happened would have happened without my family moving to the United States. If we had remained in Yugoslavia, I would have become a plumber. And by the way, it's no disservice to people who become plumbers. It just wouldn't have been what Mario Andretti was born to do, how God had created him.

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